Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy has welcomed the first export shipment of meat to Iran, scheduled for processing and export later this month by Wellington company Taylor Preston.

Demand for Plasback’s on-farm recycling service is growing so fast in Canterbury that the regional collector, McCarthy Contracting Ltd, now has a truck devoted to the task full-time.

Meat processor Silver Fern Farms is consolidating the operations of its two Waikato bobby calf processing facilities.

Meat process Alliance Group is spending $10.6 million on advanced technology, including robotics, at its Dannevirke Plant.

Meat processor ANZCO Foods made an annual pre-tax profit of $17m last year, a 21% lift on the previous year.

Silver Fern Farms’ Pareora plant just south of Timaru can now offer its staff full-time work for 52 weeks, rather than the seasonal work of the past.

Silver Fern Farms (SFF), New Zealand’s biggest meat processor, says it cannot rule out plant closures as it aims to bounce back from a huge financial loss last year.

Alliance Group has experienced a year of challenging markets, but the business strategy is beginning to achieve results, chairman Murrat Taggart told its annual meeting yesterday.

New Zealand companies need to step up their efforts, in view of the hope for better lamb prices this season evaporating faster than a summer shower.

In an ironic twist to the long-running Silver Fern Farms and Shanghai Maling merger saga, the deal will now be done earlier than planned.